I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Shi An had only heard of two of the wonders native to the Whispering Forest before.

One is the red maple forest in Red Maple Town, which is a production-related wonder.

The other one is in the town of Gray Earth.

But that doesn't mean that the great forest only has these two wonders.

In reality, the area of ​​human activity in the Great Forest was previously limited, with many places inaccessible or uncharted territory. However, during this period, as explorers from the safe zones uncovered one area after another, and as military units swept through the forests, one wonder after another was discovered.

Upon closer inspection, wow, the wonders weren't as rare as I'd imagined.

Four of them are production-related wonders.

They are: "Thunder Bamboo Forest", "Ice Fruit Tales", "Fire Crystal Mine", and "High Mountain Terraces".

Compared to resource-rich areas and mineral veins, the biggest difference between production wonders and these is that they require no maintenance and their resources will never run out. These wonders are essentially low-budget versions of dragon vein dungeons.

The treasures they produce are quite good; they are all rare-grade treasures that can be used directly, and they can also be used as materials to craft high-level items. "It's just a pity that the output is ultimately limited. For a Nightmare Town-level power, such a wonder is a valuable asset, but for my safe zone, such a small output is negligible."

Many researchers were pleasantly surprised because the treasures produced by wonders have different effects than those found in the wild; they are safer and have no side effects. Some research teams are preparing to use these materials to develop alternative synthetic treasures.

Of the remaining five wonders, one is a functional wonder.

"The Witch's Fortune Telling Hut"

There was no witch inside, only a crystal ball.

The Wonder ability allows you to spend Dream Crystals to perform an information divination, revealing the approximate location of some mineral deposits and treasure lands, but it cannot divine wonders. It has some uses.

The other four are traditional cultivation-related wonders.

"Bewitching Forest"

Those who fall into the dream will be subjected to various nightmares, which are neither fatal nor harmful. If they can resist them, they can temper their mental strength and willpower.

But if you can't handle it, you'll feel listless for a few days.

"Hammering and Forging Wooden Dummy"

This is a wonder that can hone one's physique and agility.

"Sharpening Cliff"

This is a marvel where one can hone their swordsmanship.

"Thundercloud Cliff (Rare)"

The only rare wonder among the nine wonders, if converted into a safe zone building, would be an excellent building.

This Thundercloud Cliff is quite extraordinary. It allows one to quickly temper their physique by using the lightning that strikes down, and there is a chance to gain some lightning power. However, this tempering method is slightly dangerous.

After thinking for a while, Shi An converted both "Thundercloud Cliff" and "Bewitching Forest" into safe zone buildings.

After the transformation of Thundercloud Cliff, not only is the forging effect improved, but the danger within is also eliminated. The safe zone buildings are more intelligent and comprehensive; if a forger encounters danger beyond their ability to withstand, they will be automatically transferred out by the buildings.

"Most importantly, once it's converted into a safe zone building, I can upgrade this wonder. Otherwise, a cultivation-type wonder can only accommodate a few dozen people cultivating at the same time."

Wonders do not require power to maintain, but Earth's civilization is also unable to power wonders.

If too many dreamers enter the wonder, exceeding its capacity, the entire wonder will fall into silence after its energy is depleted, and will only restart after a period of time.

Therefore, the unique wonders of each major power can only be used a limited number of times by their core members.

The special buildings in the safe zone are different. These buildings require a small amount of Dream Crystals to maintain operation, but it's practically free. Through upgrades, the buildings in the safe zone can accommodate a large number of Dream Fallers and slightly increase the building's own capabilities.

Even after reaching the level cap, Shi An can still forcibly expand buildings by consuming Conviction Power.

Just like now, the training ground already has a thousand training rooms.

Inside the training ground, there are also two thousand parallel training spaces.

Otherwise, with tens of thousands of members already in the safe zone, there simply wouldn't be enough normal wonder buildings.

Aside from Thundercloud Cliff and Bewitching Heart Forest, the other seven wonders were all handed over to other forces for management, with the safe zone only taking a portion of the profits. "These nine wonders probably don't even represent the entirety of the Whispering Forest, after all..."

The Whispering Forest is vast, and the safe zone has only cleared most of it so far. There are still some areas teeming with strange structures that haven't been cleared yet. It's entirely possible that three or four more wondrous structures will be discovered in the future.

"However, wonders are useful, but for a country or a civilization, their effect is far from enough to change the fate of the nation." The wonders of the safe zone have a huge effect, firstly because they can accommodate a huge number of dreamers;

Secondly, the spectacle serves its purpose perfectly.

Like the training grounds, although they are only rare-level buildings, compared to the most common wonders, their function is unmatched by a hundred wonders. Without the training grounds, how could members of the safe zone possibly overcome the most difficult early stages in just one day?

Meanwhile, Thor was still cultivating. He had mastered his superior-level spell to the proficiency level, greatly increasing his combat power. He emerged from seclusion and summoned several trusted confidants to inquire about the situation.

Several trusted confidants exchanged glances and said that nothing major had happened recently.

"Where's the safe zone? I remember the safe zone has built quite a few camps here, including a very high-standard base-level camp," Thor asked, feeling that something was off.

Without a second thought, the confidant replied, "There are such camps, but as far as we know, not many Dreamers go there. Even the Lighthouse base only had a lot of people when it was first built. Now, hardly anyone goes there anymore; only the maintenance personnel from the Safe Zone headquarters remain." He wasn't lying at all.

Previously, a large number of Dreamers went to the Lighthouse Base to use the base's portal to enter the safe zone for the first time.

Now that they are members, they no longer need to go through the Lighthouse Base's portal. They can open the door themselves, so they don't need to keep going there.

So, after deciding that nothing serious had happened in Grey Harbor, Thor went back to cultivate.

He is a very diligent person.

As a powerful cultivator at the Ascension Realm and one of the pillars of strength in Gray Harbor City, he certainly wouldn't waste his time on mundane affairs. He had already entrusted the affairs of various departments within the city to his trusted confidants; all he needed to do was make the final decisions.

After Thor left, the confidants exchanged glances.

They were all aware of their own situation.

Because they had bumped into each other in the safe zone.

Those are our own people.

"I hope Lord Thor can be a little more dignified."

"Never mind, things have come to this, let's go cultivate first."

"Let's go! The newly opened cultivation paradise, Thundercloud Cliff, seems perfect for us. Let's team up and try our luck."

"I'm running out of contribution points. Sigh, if it weren't for all the affairs in Gray Harbor City that keep me busy, I would definitely apply to join the Vanguard Exploration Corps." "Yeah, I want to join the Vanguard Exploration Corps too!"

This is a true legion that is fighting for all of humanity and for the future of Earth.

If the safe zone only offered high welfare benefits, they might still hesitate. But the safe zone, in addition to its generous benefits, is also a pioneer for humanity. Every single thing the safe zone has done has benefited humanity.

Its scope far surpasses that of Grey Harbor City.

They didn't defect to the safe zone; they simply brought Gray Harbor City with them and integrated it into the safe zone.

The Vanguard Exploration Corps is a corps that was only recently established in the safe zone.

The Corps' Dreamers are registered personnel within the safe zone, with official positions, salaries, and fixed welfare benefits.

The vast majority of members in the safe zone can be called explorers. They have explored many places, discovered many dangerous locations, and recorded a great deal of strange information.

Pioneer explorers are different; they are the elite among explorers, and their exploration areas are not the six regions of the Pale Wasteland and Dark Forest, but the "No Man's Land" outside of the six major regions!

Rumor has it that the danger level in the no-man's-land is several times higher than in these larger regions;

Rumors circulate that strange, itinerant creatures occasionally appear in the no-man's-land.

Rumors circulate that a terrifying and sinister force is conquering territory deep within the no-man's land, posing a significant threat to humanity.

The mission of the Vanguard Exploration Corps is to collect as much intelligence as possible from the "No Man's Land," gathering as much as possible.

Shi An doesn't want to confront the Rihui tribe for the time being; he needs time to develop.

However, the safe zone cannot be completely ignorant of the situation outside.

He needs information!

Thus, the Vanguard Exploration Corps was established, and its explorers were all elites and admirable individuals.

Even with safe zones as a backup, venturing into the "no man's land," into areas where the Sunbright Tribe's spies are likely to be present, still carries significant risks in the White Mist Forest region.

Jiang Chuan, Liu Mian, and Wang Gu were cautiously making their way through the white mist, each with a red rope tied around their waist. This red rope bound the three of them tightly together, a testament to the experience of their predecessors.

The White Mist Forest has a bizarre phenomenon: the denser the white mist, the more likely the space is to be chaotic and disordered. Dreamers may wander around and become completely lost in the white mist, ending up dozens of kilometers away in the blink of an eye, or even falling into some kind of dead end.

The vanguard exploration team also tried and failed more than ten times before gradually figuring out the pattern of the white mist teleportation.

Fortunately, members could open the safe zone gate from nearby areas; otherwise, countless explorers would have perished during these dozen or so trials. "This White Mist Forest also has another calamity—the damp fog!"

Jiang Chuan said, "Based on these encounters, we can roughly determine that the damp fog is not caused by anything strange, but rather by a natural disaster. A regional, randomly occurring natural disaster! We never expected that these large regions outside would experience random calamities!"

This must indeed be thoroughly investigated; otherwise, when the main force of the safe zone and the strange waves are locked in a decisive battle, a natural calamity will engulf them, causing immeasurable losses.

Like this damp fog.

The damp fog will continuously absorb the spell power of the dreamer. At first, the absorption is very weak and almost imperceptible, but as time goes by, the absorption of the spell power by the damp fog will increase exponentially.

Even extraordinary individuals will experience a terrifying rate of loss of their magical power if they remain inside the damp fog for more than two hours. Team leader Jiang Chuan said, "We've recorded the damp fog this time, and we estimate we'll earn a considerable amount of contribution points."

They continued on their journey, having been active in the White Mist Forest region for over ten days.

Besides the damp fog, their team also documented six new types of anomalies and discovered a medium-sized dream crystal mine. Unfortunately, the mineral deposits in this area are currently not suitable for development.

Their inconspicuous little team can still travel through the White Mist Forest, but if more people come or set up camp, they will attract a lot of strange things in no time.

"Just as rumored, these regions outside the six main areas are completely uninhabited. Not only our team, but other teams have also failed to find any trace of the Dreamers."

But suddenly, Jiang Chuan's gaze sharpened and fell on a small wooden house in the distance.

This White Mist Forest is not a primeval forest. There are some villages and wooden houses in the forest, but just like the high-rise buildings in the Pale Wasteland, the villages and houses in this forest are also part of nature.

Some of the cabins had writing on them, but it was all gibberish, like when you use AI to draw a cityscape and the text in the image is mostly garbled. However, the writing on the cabins in the distance was different.

It is the script of the Great Xia Dynasty.

"Could it be that there are really survivors in this godforsaken place?"

Half a day later, the team actually found a survivor.

This is a man with a full beard and disheveled hair that looks like it hasn't been trimmed for months.

Despite his tattered clothes, the man's eyes were bright and piercing.

His gaze swept over the three men, especially lingering on their silver-gray battle suits, as if he were deep in thought.

"My name is Wang Sen, but you can also call me by my code name 'Ranger'."

Wang Sen paused for a moment, then asked directly, "Are you... Dreamers from some powerful gathering place?"

quickly,

The news then reached Shi An's ears.

The store manager was somewhat surprised, "There really are survivors?"

"Yes, according to that dreamer named Wang Sen, he has encountered a total of eleven survivor camps over the years, and he has marked them all on the map."

Yang Lina said, "However, that explorer also said that he encountered many of the camps last year or even the year before, and he cannot guarantee that these camps still exist now."

Shi An understands.

According to the information, these survivor camps are all small camps, with the number of people ranging from dozens to two hundred.

In the vast areas of the Whispering Forest, survival is difficult even in small camps, let alone in the "no man's land".

However, what truly surprised Shi An was the wandering knight Wang Sen himself.

Wang Sen was among the first to fall into the nightmare world.

He is a lost soul, a wanderer, a drifter, and he has been surviving alone in this dangerous, nightmarish world for almost three years.

Moreover, in these three years, Wang Sen has traveled to at least four major regions.

All by himself.

"This person is amazing!"

"If explorers have levels, he is definitely a legendary explorer."

"Notify the explorers at the front lines to make sure they invite this ranger to the safe zone."